1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fastener supply assemblies for fastener driving tools, and especially to fastener magazines for such tools. The invention particularly concerns such tools, assemblies and magazines in which the fasteners comprise nails. Thus, the tool according to the invention may comprise a nailer, the assembly may comprise a nail supply assembly, and the magazine my comprise a nail magazine. However, the invention also concerns other types of fasteners, including pins, staples, screws, rivets, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many fastener driving tools include a driver that is propelled rapidly against a fastener to drive a fastener from the tool into a workpiece. The driver may comprise a piston, or a ram (impact member), for example. The driver may be propelled in any of a variety of ways, including (but not limited to) pneumatically, by combustion, by means of a strap or chain, by means of a separate piston, or by means of one or more flywheels, for example.
Fastener driving (firing) tools have for many years included magazines (i.e. holding and supply devices) for the fasteners that are fired (driven) from the tools. There are various known types of such magazines, including magazines arranged to store and supply loose fasteners, magazines for coiled strips of fasteners, and magazines for straight strips of fasteners. Each of the different known types of fastener magazine is an attempt to find the best compromise between various different criteria. Such criteria include: maximized fastener storage capacity; efficiency and reliability of supply of fasteners for firing; efficiency and ease of insertion of fasteners into the magazine; compactness and optimization of shape and configuration; and lightness of weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,697 discloses a fastener driving apparatus having a magazine comprising first and second fastener guideways arranged side-by-side, for holding and supplying fasteners and feeding them into a forwardly situated drive track of the apparatus, so that the fasteners can be driven from the apparatus. Toward its rear (spaced from the drive track), the magazine is pivotably mounted to a rear portion of the apparatus, so that a forward end face of the magazine can move laterally with respect to a feed slot that communicates with the drive track. In this way, first one and then the other of the guideways of the magazine may be brought into alignment with the feed slot of the drive track. A latching mechanism maintains the magazine in a first position with a right hand guideway in alignment with the feed slot, until the right hand guideway is exhausted of fasteners, whereupon a pusher (which pushes the fasteners forward toward the drive track) moves the latch, causing the magazine to rotate with respect to the drive track, thereby moving the left hand guideway into alignment with the drive track.